Like a Cleveland Browns executive beating the bushes in search of a quarterback, let’s go here, there and everywhere ...
-- Jason Campbell will officially become the 20th quarterback to start a game for the Browns since the team returned in 1999. To commemorate the event, the Cavaliers will retire No. 20 in his honor.
-- Seriously, though, the Cavs announced this week they will retire No. 11 on March 8 in honor of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, currently an assistant to Cleveland GM Chris Grant. Upon learning that “Big Z” would have his jersey hoisted to the rafters in Cleveland after averaging 13 points and seven rebounds per game in his 12-year career with the Cavs, Vlade Divac, Rik Smits and a half-dozen other mediocre centers from the era pulled out their calendars looking for open ceremony dates in their own cities.
-- The lovable “Z” was a fan favorite in Cleveland, and was a solid supporting player for LeBron James during the Cavs’ successful run in the late 2000s, but to declare that no one should ever wear No. 11 again? That’s an honor more deserving of an all-time great. Put another way, if an undrafted rookie in Cleveland was assigned No. 11 during training camp next season, no one would blink. Give a Houston Rockets prospect No. 34, however, and watch fans who remember Hakeem Olajuwon go ballistic over the blasphemy. In my book, that’s how you tell whether or not a jersey retirement is warranted.
-- Fans arguing with me on Twitter over the Zydrunas debate have said they’ll throw parties on March 8 to celebrate the honor. Did it cross the line when I suggested they serve average-tasting food and lukewarm soft drinks?
-- Final note: When Z’s jersey reaches its final destination, it will be the franchise’s seventh to hang from the ceiling at The Q, for a club that has won a grand total of zero championships. For the sake of comparison, the L.A. Lakers have retired nine jerseys to honor players who have contributed to 16 NBA titles. Just saying.
-- It would have been impossible for Brandon Weeden to ignore the criticism and howls from fans who wanted his thrown out of the Browns’ offensive huddle, if not out of Cleveland itself, but became clear that the pressure was affecting his performance when he threw himself a 30th birthday party last week and it fell incomplete after being tipped at the line of scrimmage.
-- Speaking of Browns’ quarterbacks, 43-year-old Jeff Garcia reached out this week and offered his services to his former club in their time of need. Browns CEO Joe Banner told him he’d get back to him after Ty Detmer finished his workout.
-- If you were one of the fans surveyed by Forbes magazine who identified Michael Vick is your most disliked player in the NFL, Vick’s younger brother Marcus would like to have a word with you. Probably a loud, profane word.
-- The younger Vick has become the unofficial family spokesman in defense of his brother, who was infamously convicted of torturing and killing dogs just for the fun of it. Through his Twitter account, Marcus has made it his mission to destroy any and all fans who don’t genuflect at the mention of Michael’s name. A gem from @MVFive on Sunday: “Y’all Eagle fans should appreciate my brother Mike but y’all don’t lmao,” followed by a profane hashtag. Who knew that Michael would someday wind up as the “classy” Vick brother?
-- Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall with the ongoing controversy surrounding the Washington Redskins nickname, the Indians are taking the temperature of their fans with respect to Chief Wahoo. A survey sent out this week asks fans to rate their feelings about the Chief, as well as the “Block C” logo and a host of other game-related items. Among the options for fans to choose when describing their feelings about Chief Wahoo: “This logo makes me feel proud of the Indians” and “This logo represents more than the team-it represents the city of Cleveland.” Regardless of the survey results, be prepared to say goodbye to our smiling, red-faced friend within the next two seasons. The Chief has survived a lot of adversity, and a lot of bad baseball, in the last century, but it says here he cannot survive the “PC Police” who are out in full force across America making sure no one is offended by anything, ever.